Some Indicators Regarding Early Childhood Education and Care in Türkiye and Their International Comparison

This study aims to compare Türkiye's early childhood education and care (ECEC) indicators, such as enrollment rates, duration of education, age of access, mandatory school start age, student-to-teacher ratios, and allocated budgets, with those of the top six European countries ranked in the United Nations Human Development Index 2024. The comparison is based on reports from UNICEF (United Nations Children's Fund), OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development), EU (European Union), UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization), UNDP (United Nations Development Programme) and the World Bank. The study group of the research consists of Switzerland, Norway, Iceland, Denmark, Sweden, which are among the top six countries determined according to the Human Development Index (HDI) specified in the United Nations Human Development Report (2024) in 2024, and Türkiye, which is ranked 45th. This study group was selected using the criterion sampling technique, one of the purposeful sampling methods. This descriptive study uses a qualitative approach. The findings indicate that Türkiye lags behind the compared countries in terms of ECEC enrollment and budget allocation. It is recommended that ECEC should be mandatory and free for at least one year.